The present invention relates to milking parlors, and in particular to milking parlors in which a series of neck rails are employed to align cows while they are being milked.
Milking parlors are designed to allow a large number of cows to be milked in a relatively short amount of time. Prior to being milked, the cows enter a channel and enter milking stalls. While they are being milked, the cows are restrained in the milking stall by neck rails arranged on each side of the cow""s neck to form gaps through which the cow""s heads extend. The neck rails hold the cows steady while the milk operator attaches milk udder covers. A group of neck rails are connected to work together in what is referred to as a gang. Conventionally, three to four cows are maintained in position by a gang and one to thirty-six gangs make up a parlor.
The neck rails rotate between a closed position and an open position. While the cows are being milked, the neck rails are arranged in the closed position to maintain the cows in the milking stalls. When the milking process is finished, the neck rails are raised into the open configuration to allow the cows to exit the parlor. The neck rails must then be lowered to the closed configuration to prevent the next group of cows from simply walking through and out of the parlor. The neck rails thus further serve as a gate that controls when the cows enter and leave the milking stalls.
Conventionally, neck rails are pneumatically driven into the open position by pressing a first button and into the closed position by pressing a second button. When the neck rails are driven into the closed position, they can potentially hit a slow or confused cow and injure the cow. The milk operator thus must wait for the all of the cows to exit before the neck rails are lowered. Standing by while all cows clear the stall area wastes valuable time during which the milking operator could have been making preparations for the next group of cows entering the parlor.
The need thus exists for milking parlor systems and methods that lessen the likelihood that the cow will be injured while exiting the parlor and that do not require the operator""s attention while the cow is exiting the parlor.
The invention may be implemented in an assembly comprising one or more neck rails rotatably attached to a parlor structure and a pneumatic control circuit that moves the neck rails between open and closed configurations. The neck rails are normally in the closed configuration. The control circuit raises the neck rails into the open configuration; then, after a slight delay, the control circuit automatically lowers the neck rails at a slow rate with minimal downward force. Once all the cows have cleared the milking area and the neck rails have returned to the closed position, the operator presses a second button that locks the neck rails in the down position. Optionally, operation of the second button can also open a gate to let in a new group of cows.
The invention has numerous benefits. Because the neck rails descend in a low force mode, if the cow that has not cleared the range of motion of the neck rail when the rail begins to return to the closed configuration, the neck rail will harmlessly contact the back of the cow. This light contact by the neck rail will encourage the cow to move forward, thereby exiting the milking area. The light contact by the neck rail will, over time, train the cows to quickly leave the milking area.
The milking operator no longer has to sit and wait for the cows to exit and then press a button to lower the neck rails; the operator simply presses a single button to raise the neck rails and then is free to prepare for the next group of cows while the neck rails slowly and safely return to the closed configuration.